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Topics: Charlie Kirk, Politics, US News, Social Media
Britt Jones
Topics: Charlie Kirk, Politics, US News, Social Media
The last person to debate Charlie Kirk before his death has spoken out on the impact of his shooting.
Kirk was shot and killed on 10 September, sending shockwaves across the globe.
The 31-year-old was debating students as part of his ‘Prove Me Wrong’ campaign, where 3,000 people turned up to watch at the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU).
Videos online show him sat underneath a white gazebo, and he was in the middle of responding to a question when a single shot could be heard.
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That’s when Kirk jolted, dropped his microphone and fell backwards.
The clip, which has circulated social media, shows that the bullet struck the conservative through the neck.
Many people have come out to condemn his assassination, with world leaders such as US president Donald Trump condemning political violence.
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But now, the person Kirk was debating has also come out to talk about his account of the incident, and the impact it’s had.
Hunter Kozak deemed the killing of Kirk 'a tragedy' and has asked that those who have been celebrating his death, 'stay peaceful.'
In a video posted to Instagram on Thursday 11 September, Kozak said that the whole thing is ‘hard to grapple with’, and called out 'sick f**king psychos' for thinking this is the solution.
The mathematics student at UVU, was the person Kirk was speaking to during the Q&A when the shot rang out as he was about to continue his answer.
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Kozak had attempted to prove Kirk wrong on his claims that transgender people are increasingly being linked to mass shootings in the US.
He explained in an earlier video, which he put in his Thursday clip, that Kirk had been banking on a 'psycho' sifting through the 6,000 mass shootings to come up with how many shooters were transgender.
Still, he wanted to debate him, as he explained that transgender people are peaceful, despite the minority who have been involved in gun violence.
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He explained that even though he doesn’t agree with Kirk, it was appalling what happened to him.
“As much as I disagree with Charlie Kirk, I'm on the record for how much I disagree with Charlie Kirk,” he said. “But like… man, dude, he is still a human being. Have we forgotten that?”
Kozak condemned those who were happy that Kirk was murdered, saying in his video: “First off, you sick f***ing psychos that think this is the answer. It's not.”
He added: “It's f**king not. It's awful. And a father doesn't have his kids anymore.”
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He explained that when he learned that Kirk would be attending his university, he decided to debate him on the topic, as it’s something he wanted to disprove publicly.
“I asked, you know, how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters in the last 10 years?” Kozak said.
“Too many,” Kirk replied.
Kozak then told Kirk that the number is ‘five’, to which Kirk responded - which became his last words: “Counting or not counting gang violence?”
Within seconds, Kirk would be shot.
For Kozak, it had a profound and lasting impact on him.
“I'm not going to show a video of what happened, mostly because I can barely watch it,” Kozak said. “It's been a rough 24 hours.
“It's a tragedy and I'm part of a community that's struggling to grapple with it right now.”
Hunter said that he also has ‘two kids and a wife’ and put himself in the position of Kirk.
He said: “And if… if my one-year-old boy - like, his one-year-old boy will grow up without memories of his dad.”
"People have obviously pointed to the irony that the point that I was trying to make is how peaceful the left was. Right before he got shot. That only makes sense if we are peaceful.
“I stand by so little of what he said, but one of the things that [Kirk] stood by was conversation.
People online were quick to sympathise with him well, having witnessed Kirk’s death up close.
Someone wrote: “I’m sorry you had to witness this. I hope you’re doing OK. Take care of yourself.”
Another said: “Thank you for speaking out, for using your platform to do the right thing. All violence is wrong.”